Insight and Personality Adjustment: A Study of Psychological Effects of War

By: Therese Benedek

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Synopsis: Sudden changes in the social scene, upheavals such as are wrought by economic depression, by revolutions and by wars, lay bare for our observation the interaction between the individual and society; they expose sharply the individual and his relationship to his primary social unit: the family. The war, with the shocklike interruption of the usual tempo of living, wrote a new, clearly defined chapter in the life of the individual as well as of the nation. And the family bears the brunt of the upheaval. Sociologists as well as psychiatrists look upon the family with concern. Will the family—this proven institution of many tasks—be able to carry on and continue to conserve our cultural inheritance, conveying it to a new, rebellious generation? Will it be able, at the same time, to keep step with the progress which our complex society impatiently forces upon its traditions?Impressed by the impact of the war upon the population, the psychiatrist had endless opportunities to study and interpret its effects upon human relationships. For the war exposed the images, illusions, expectations and disappointments which each of us harbors as indelible impressions of living together. Thus conflicts which already might have receded into inactivity during the routine of peacetime living were stirred into consciousness and demanded attention.